In just her third major main draw the Pole has reached a Grand Slam semifinal
Earlier in the tournament, Maja Chwalinska joked during an on-court interview, “Nobody knows me, to be honest." That has changed forever over the past three weeks at Roland-Garros.
The Pole edged past No.22 seed Anna Kalinskaya 7-6(3), 6-3 on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday to equal the best result achieved by a women's singles qualifier at RG in the Open era, the last-four run by Nadia Podoroska in 2020.
Prior to this tournament, the world No.114 had only posted two career tour-level wins on clay and registered just a single Grand Slam main draw victory back at Wimbledon in 2022.
Chwalinska’s captivating run continues with a semifinal showdown across the net from Diana Shnaider, who beat world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday.
“I honestly don’t know what is going on," the 24-year-old said. "Every single match here is kind of crazy for me. I’m very grateful.”
“I’m happy it looks like I’m in control. I was definitely nervous, that’s normal because I care so, I’m stressed but I just focused on my game and my job and I’m happy I managed to do that.”
Qualifying to the semifinals: that's eight successive wins so far in this fairytale run.
“I just try to win every match that I’m playing. I’m not focusing on confidence," Chwalinska said. I’m playing against the best players in the world, so I won’t compare myself to them.”
The Pole, who fell in qualifying in 2021, 2023 and 2025 at Roland-Garros, bounced back from an instant break on Wednesday with front-foot, assertive play.
The left-hander constructed perfect clay-court points with vicious skidding slice and angled drives off the forehand to race 5-1 up but world No.24 Kalinskaya proved her class to prevent her opponent serving out the opener twice.
Despite her lead disappearing, Chwalinska finished an exhausting 27-shot rally with a canny drop shot into lob combination, which was applauded by Kalinskaya.
Into the tiebreak and another lung-busting rally. This time it was 25 shots and the qualifier’s clay-court craft dismantled Kalinskaya’s defence for the pivotal point.
Maja Chwalinska
It was Chwalinska’s turn to applaud early in the second set, with Kalinskaya’s perfectly executed disguised drop shot. But these moments were too rare for the No.22 seed and the Pole’s versatility with height and spin kept her in front and her RG dream alive.
Chwalinska’s eighth victory in a row means the world No.114 is just the fourth Polish player in the Open era to reach the women’s singles semifinals at a Grand Slam, following in the footsteps of Agnieszka Radwanska, Magda Linette and childhood friend, four-time Roland-Garros champion, Iga Swiatek.
ROLAND-GARROS
18 May - 7 June 2026
